EU VAT Refunds Extension of 2009 deadline
Friday July 16, 2010
On 15 July 2010, the EU Commission announced that it has adopted a proposal to safeguard the rights of EU taxpayers to claim VAT refunds from other Member States. The proposal defers the deadline for submitting 2009 Refund Directive claims from 30 September 2010 to 31 March 2011. This has arisen because some Member States were late in launching the electronic portals that are now used to make claims and others have had technical problems in getting the portals up and running. This is very welcome news and shows that the Commission has listened to complaints from many taxpayers and representatives.
In addition the Commission proposes to set out guidelines on the technical operation of the portals as currently Member States have different views as to how the electronic system should operate. The Commission proposes common implementing measures regarding such issue as what documents should be attached to the claim and how taxpayers are notified of receipt of the claim. Member States must make the necessary changes to their legislation by 1 October 2010.